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On
April 27th, 2002 almost 2,000 bicyclist gathered at
PeopleSoft Park in Pleasanton, CA to raise money for the
Oakland Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Supporting the cyclist were 10 MARC members on motorcycles
and MARC friend in a SAG wagon. Events like this
begin early in the morning and last the better part of the
day. Our role is to keep the event riders safe and be
sure they get help for break downs, flats or injuries.
MARC motorcycles are equipped with ham radios that give
superior communication coverage for all the courses defined
in the fund-raiser. On this occasion, we teamed up with
the Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club and found their repeater
provided good coverage.
In
the few following photographs, are snapshots taken by Warren
Birmingham K6PHW, our only Harley rider. Warren used
his new Canon D-30 digital camera to capture these moments
and the staff MS photographer snapped the last group photo
with a Nikon 990 Digital camera for us just before we left of
to patrol the course.
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 Here
we are preparing for the day's battle as routes are reviewed,
signs are attached and equipment checked.
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 John
Reynolds K5JFR, is MARC's president and came up from southern
CA to assist us with this event. Our local group hasn't
grow large enough to reliably signup enough motorcycles to
cover and event that is large, even though we were only
providing road support.
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 David
Sawyer K1DRS, is applying some new transparent MARC signs
on the lower corners of my windshield. Each side bag
had one of these self adhering signs. They stick
without glue and will stay on the bike at highway speeds if
the surface they are sticking to is fairly clean.
David
was our event organizer for this event and also created all
the signs we used. Great Job David! |
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 It
isn't clear if Don Weber, KA7QQV, has his hand raised
because he has a question like, "Ah, folks, how do I
get out of this thing", or is looking to be
rescued. Either way, Don found a solution to his dilemma
and made his way out onto the course where he did a great
job of helping in this event.
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 Andrew
Brown KD6HWU is looking at the large groups of bicyclist
beginning to congregate near the event's breakfast
tent. This is his first event with MARC and while he
doesn't know it in this picture, he'll go on to do a great
job later on in the day. He will also demonstrate his
riding techniques for us in a couple of pictures displayed
below.
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Andy
is showing us a great way to ride and save money on
gasoline. He says his bike's fuel efficiency has
skyrocketed sense he began riding this way. |
In
a demonstration of skill and agility, Andy shows us one of
his favorite riding positions while MARC's president looks
on in utter amazement at how much the BA-MARC team has
developed their riding skills. |
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MARC's
team just before we leave to patrol what seems like a sea
of bicyclist. |
